Venetian blind rail and tape fastener



Jan, 1, 145. B. B. JUNKUNC VENETIAN BLIND RAIL AND TAPE FASTENER Filed Nov. 22, 1944 I N V EN TOR.

Patented Jan. 1, 1946 VENETIAN BLIND RAIL AND TAPE FASTENER' Bela B. Junkunc, Chicago, Ill., minor to Bela B. J unkunc, Alexander J unkunc, Sr., Alexander Junkunc, Jr., and Joseph G. Junkunc, a partnership doing business as J & J Tool & Machine 00., Chicago, Ill.

Application November 22, 1944, Serial No. 564,604

Claims. (Cl. 160-178) This invention relates to a Venetian blind rail and a tape fastener therefor. More particularly, it relates to a Venetian blind rail made of sheet metal.

A Venetian blind ordinarily comprises a head stock from the lower side of which is suspended horizontally a tilt rail so that it may be rotated about its longitudinal axis. In some types of Venetian blinds the head stock is omitted and the tilt rail is suspended from suitable attachments on opposite sides of the window frame which permit the desired rotation. The present invention is applicable to either form of tilt rail.

The tilt rail is usually rectangular in cross section with the larger flat surfaces positionable in horizontal planes. Depending from the side walls of the tilt rails so that they face each other are pairs of tilt tapes which extend downwardly the entire length of the window and are fastened to a bottom or base rail having much the same strength and shape characteristics as the tilt rail. Evenly spaced textile cross members are provided between each pair of tilt tapes to hold the slats. These slats have holes therethrough adjacent the tapes to permit the passage of a blind raising cord which is fastened to the base rail and extends upwardly over pulleys usually positioned in the head stock, but in some blinds in the tilt rail itself. By rotating the tilt rail, the slats may be tilted so as to maintain a substantially parallel relationship with the flat surfaces of the tilt rail and the base rail.

The tilt rail and the base rail differ in that the base rail is designed to hold the end of the raising cords while the tilt rail is designed either to pass the cord up to the head stock or to pass the cord over pulleys mounted on itself. The tilt rail and the base rail, however, bear substantially the same relationship to the tapes so that a tape fastener for one that could be used on the other would serve in two places instead of one.

Designers of Venetian blinds usually have two objectives in providing means for attaching tapes to the rails. First, to provide a means which will permit quick attachment and detachment of the tapes and, second, to render the attaching means as inconspicuous as possible. This second purpose relates particularly to the connection between the tapes and the base rail. The under side of the base rail may be tilted so that it may be readily seen from the inside of a room and if the tape is fastened to the base rail in an unattractive manner, to that extent the pleasing to fasten the ends of the tapes to the under side of the base rail by symmetrically placed nails havappearance of the blind is impaired. Where the base rail is made of wood, it is common practice ing ornamental heads. While this may provide an attractive fastening, the tape can be disconnected only by pulling out the nails, which usually results in their being rendered unusable. Some Venetian blinds have been provided with snap fasteners that extend around the lower part of the base rail, but so far as I am aware, up to the present time, none has been provided with a recess in the base rail and with a fastening device which is very quickly and readily attachable or detachable and which has an external portion such that when in position the base rail has its normal shape and appearance, free from protuberances of any kind. 7

More specifically, in the Venetian blind rails of the present invention there is provided a transverse slot on the under side of the base rail and a flexible closure member which readily seats in the slot so as to hold the ends of the tapes, the outside surface of the closure member having a cross-sectional configuration similar to that of the outside surface of the base rail. While in the drawings there is shown the base rail as made of metal and while the flexible closure member of the present invention is particularly well adapted for use with a metal rail having a hollow center, the fundamental principles of the invention can be equally adapted to the wood rail by the simple expedient of cutting a cross slot therein, as hereinafter described.

In order to render the rail of the present invention usable as a tilt rail or a base rail, there is provided a simplified pulley holding means which is to be used only where the rail is used as a tilt rail.

The rail of the present invention is simple in design and construction and, in addition to the advantages pointed out above, has other advantages which will be made apparent from the following detailed description of the illustrative embodiment shown in the accompanying drawing, consisting of one sheet, wherein:

Figure l is a perspective view of the lower, left, inside portion of a Venetian blind embodying the present invention;

Fig. 2 is a perspective view of a cross section of the base rail with the tape fastener positioned therein;

Fig. 3 is a perspective view of the end portion of the base rail showing the transverse slot into which the tape attaching means is to be seated;

Fig. 4 is a perspective view of the tape attaching means; and

Fig. 5 is a sectional view taken on the line t-B of Figure 2.

In the drawing, the numeral l generally identines a Venetian blind having a base rail I joined by tilt tapes l2 and 13 to a tilt rail (not shown). The tilt tapes l2 and I3 are Joined by cross members H, of textile material, in which are positioned slats such as l5.

Referring to Figure 3, rail consists of an elongated strip l6 of sheet steel bent to a substantially rectangular cross section by overlapping the longitudinal edges. One method of making this rail is to cut notches or rectangular slots I1 and it in the opposite edges of this strip which are to be overlapped. Tongue or jaw members l9 and 20, having protruding teeth 2| and 22 out therein, are bent or struck up from the strip immediately below the slots to a position substantially at right angles with the surface of the strip IS. The flat strip I6 is then shaped to the cross section shown in Fig. so as to provide a base rail with a pleasing rounded lower surface 23 and what is in substance a transverse slot extending through the lower half of the rail with opposed teeth at the bottom of the slot, as shown in Fig. 3.

A closure clip 24, illustrated in Fig. 4, comprises an outside wall member 25 having a cross sectional configuration similar to that of the side 23 of the bottom rail and a width approximating the width of the transverse slot in the rail. Closure clip 25 may be defined as a substantially U-shaped clip having side walls 26 and 21 and. reverse flanges 28 and 29. The surfaces 30 and 3| are gripping surfaces and through these are provided openings 32 and 33, spaced so as to register with the teeth 2| and 22 of the tongues l9 and 20.

Closure clip 25 is made of flexible material such as steel and by placing the thumb on one surface, say thesurface 26, and another finger on the surface 21, the clip 25 may be flexed or contracted sufliciently so that the gripping surfaces 30 and 3| may be positioned inside the facing rows of teeth 2| and 22. Upon releasing the pressure on the clip the holes 32 and 33 will seat themselves in the teeth 2| and 22. The exact form of the holding engagement between a surface such as 30 and a jaw member such as I! may be varied. The important thing is that the tapes may be inserted over the inside edges of the members I9 and 20 and then the closure clip may be snapped into position to securely attach the tape to the rail.

The teeth, however, have an assembling advantage in that it is unnecessary to position the tapes and then carefully hold them while the clip is inserted. By the present construction, each tape is spiked on the teeth of the associated tongue sufliciently so that a fairly good connection is established without the use of the closure clip. The closure clip can then be snapped into position very quickly and without careful holding of th base rail.

The outward appearance of the base rail and the attached tapes is pleasing since the tapes (see tape l2 in Figs. 1 and 2) appear to disappear into the sides of the base rail because the surface 25 and the side walls 26 and 21 of the clip constitute continuations of the outer surfaces of the base rail. Mere inspection demonstrates the pleasing result obtained, and the ease of assembling or disassembling the tapes with the base rail by means of the closure clip or'tape fastener is manifest.

As pointed out above, 9. raising cord, as 34, extends downwardly and is fastened insid the base rail II (the fastening is not illustrated) usually by a knot. The knot in the case of my base rail may be on the under side of a hole 35, illustrated in Fig. 3. This hole is provided by two inwardly directed, rectangular walls 36 and 31. Two holes 38 and 39 are disposed in aligned relationship in these walls 36 and 31. If applicant's rail is to be used as a base rail, the cord 34 is wound around the two plates 36 or 31 or otherwise fastened inside the rail. If the rail is to be used as a tilt rail, on the other hand, a pin carrying a pulley is journalled in the holes 38 and 39 and the cord is run over the pulley either to the head stock or to a side mounting on the Venetian blind. If the cord is to be run vertically to the head stock the same closure clip 24 is used excepting that it is provided with an opening, indicated in Fig. 4 by the dotted circle bearing numeral 40. If, on the other hand, the cord is to be run over the pulley out through the end of the hollow tilt rail, the closure clip 24, in the exact form illustrated in Fig. 4, may be used.

Applicants invention can be readily adapted to a wooden tilt rail or base rail. In the case of the wooden rail, a transverse slot having approximately the same dimensions as the slot lllustrated in Fig. 3 will be cut across the bottom of the rail. The tapes may be tacked to the inner surface of the rail and a closure member having the same outside cross sectional configuration as the lower part of the base rail may be used to conceal the fastening of the tapes to the rail. Additionally, if it is desired to employ the flexible closure clip, members equivalent to the jaw members l9 and 20 may be provided on the inner surface of the transverse slot in the wooden rail.

It is apparent that any excess length of tape may be kept in the hollow rail (see Figs. 2 and 5) and if it is desired to lengthen the tape to compensate for shrinkage or for any other purpose. closure member 25 may be removed and the tape re-set to the desired length and then impaled on teeth. 2| and 22, as described.

I claim:

1. A Venetian blind rail and tape fastener therefor comprising an elongated member, a transverse open slot across one surface thereof, said slot having a width suflicient to receive a Venetian blind tape, a closure member seatable in said slot and having an outer surface conformable with the surface of the rail, and means for holding the closure member in the slot.

2. A Venetian blind rail and tape fastener therefor comprising an elongated member having a substantially 'rectangular cross section, a transverse open slot across one of the surfaces of said member, said slot having a width sufficient to receive a Venetian blind tape, a pair of facing gripping means in said slot, a flexible closure member having a substantially U-shaped configuration, and outwardly directed gripping means on said closure member adapted to be positioned between and to engage gripping means in the slot.

3. A Venetian blind rail and tape fastener therefor comprising an elongated strip of steel having its narrow dimension bent to a rectangular cross section, a transverse open slot across one of the surfaces of said member, said slot having a width suflicient to receive a Venetian blind tape, a flange formed integrally with each side wall of the rail at the base of the slot and directed inwardly, a flexible closure member having a subaseaeoa stantially U-shaped configuration, and gripping surfaces adapted to be positioned between said inwardly directed flanges to engage the same and hold the closure member in assembled relationship with the rail.

4. A Venetian blind rail and tape fastener therefor comprising an elongated, rectangular strip of steel, a rectangular slot in one of the long edges, a tongue having teeth thereon projecting into the slot, a second slot in the other long side of the strip and in transverse alignment with the first slot, a similar tongue in the second slot, said tongues being bent at substantially right angles to the strip and said strip being bent along four lines to form an elongated rail having a substantially rectangular cross section with the two tongues directed toward each other, a flexible closure member having a substantially U- 5. A Venetian blind rail and tape fastener therefor comprising an elongated, rectangular strip of steel, a rectangular slot in one of the long edges, a tongue having teeth thereon projecting into the slot, a, second slot in the other long side of the strip and in transverse alignment with the first slot, a similar tongue in the second slot, said tongues being bent at substantially right angles to the strip and said strip being bent along four lines to form an elongated rail having a substantially rectangular cross section with the two tongues directed toward each other, a flexible closure member having a substantially U-shaped cross section, gripping means across the end of each arm of the U-shaped member, said gripping means being normally spaced apart by a distance greater than the distance between the two tongues on the rail, an opening formed by two spaced walls cut from the closed side of the rail in transverse alignment with the slots, and aligned means in said walls for carrying a pulley.

BELA B. JUNKUNC. 

